In Rebellion (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book II)

by John J Higgins

  Chapter 15

  JARAHMAEL AS A REBEL

  Beelzebael decided to keep fighting all night and kept sending in Cherubim fighters. None could break through the defenses constructed by the Dominions at their lower gateway. Each warrior sent in would fall back an hour or so later exhausted from fighting and failing to break through. The narrow channel built by the loyal Dominions had tall walls composed of solidified golden cloud material that could not be cut or crushed by the swords, hammers, spears, or sound-producing devices. Weapons that worked well on Earth when the Angels were destroying the dinosaurs were not working so well up in the Heavens. Beelzebael grew frustrated that he could not succeed in breaking through and went to get some sleep, so that he would be rested in anticipation of moving through the rest of the Heavens the following day.

  When the dawn finally began to break, Beelzebael arose and received a status report that his legions were still stuck and not able to get past the Dominions’ defenses and into the Third Heaven. Even though he had not succeeded in breaking through yet, he was not so upset about it, as it gave him an opportunity to test the loyalty of the Archangel Jarahmael to their cause. If Jarahmael did not fight the rebel Angels would constrain him as a prisoner. But if he did fight and succeeded, they would have the benefit of breaking through the loyal Angels' defenses. If something did happen to Jarahmael, so be it, one less thing to worry about. Smiling at the thought, Beelzebael dispatched one of the nearby rebel Guardian Angels to wake Jarahmael and bring him to the battlefront.

  Jarahmael was already up. He had been thinking about how best to deal with Beelzebael and Suriel. Fighting the two of them right now was not the answer; even if he succeeded beating them, he would still be entrapped in a legion of rebel Angels. Beelzebael was still unable to break through into the Third Heaven and wanted him to take care of it. This gave him the opportunity to find a means to escape Beelzebael’s legion and Suriel’s watchful gaze. He could then get back up to the Seventh Heaven and protect Lillith, but hoped that he would not have to harm any of the loyal Angels in escaping. If he failed to escape now, he may never be able to, as Suriel never let him out of his sight, and had checked on him repeatedly as he slept during the night.

  Jarahmael viewed being summoned to the bottleneck area as a relief, because now at least he had a chance to get free. Suriel still kept a watchful eye on him, as the two Angels flew in tandem. They landed close together before Beelzebael, a few feet from the entrance to the solidified walls and channel.

  “So this is it,” said Jarahmael. He took his hand and rubbed it along the cloud-like but rock-hard wall. “Impressive that the Dominions and Principalities were able to construct this all so quickly,” Jarahmael said to the other two Archangels.

  “Yes,” responded Beelzebael. “I have had Cherubim Angels attacking all night, seems no matter what I do, the Cherubim can't break through. You said yesterday that you were quite capable of doing so, so now let's see how well you can do!”

  “Certainly,” Jarahmael responded. “Wait for me here.” He reached back and pulled the spear out from between his wings and walked forward. The walls were tall on either side of him, and he knew by touching them that the Dominions had been able to slow down the movement of the molecules in the walls on either side of him. The walls were only shoulder length apart, too close for him to be able to use his wings to fly up and out of it. And the channel he was in made a 90 degree turn, went straight, turned left and then right. The further he went in, the more it was like a maze that kept an attacker confined and heading exactly where the defenders wanted them. He could hear some murmuring in front of him so he knew that in a turn or two he would be face to face with the loyal Dominions.

  If he tried to communicate with the loyal Angels at this point, and explain that he was really a loyal Archangel and not a rebel, it would slow him down, as they would never believe him. And he couldn't be sure that Beelzebael would hold back the rebel Angels, they could be right behind him, listening to anything he said. Even if he was able to convince the loyal Angels he was not an enemy, if rebel Angels were following behind him, they could break through, and Beelzebael would succeed anyway.

  The only answer he could think of was to try to get up and out of these walls so he would be able to fly, and once airborne he could fly away from the fighting here and back to his primary purpose of getting back to the Seventh Heaven.

  He made another two turns. Good! There were no loyal Angels along the sides along this stretch of the walled structure. Jarahmael was in quite a distance in the narrow walled channel. Far enough that if he got free, Beelzebael and the other rebel Angels would be unable to see him fly off to the side and escape.

  He thought about taking off his tunic and cutting it with the light swords and leaving it on the ground to make it look like he been in a terrible fight and got the worst of it. But as soon as he started to take the tunic off, the Crystal Prism that he had secreted in one of the deeper folds fell out. The other weapons would hang on him by straps but he would have to carry this prism in his hands. He was afraid if he was confronted before he could find another tunic, this weapon could fall into the rebel Angel army's hands. Leaving the spear by itself would have to do.

  Then, taking a running start, he ran with the spear extended, took the point and steered it into the ground and used the spear to propel himself up and out of the defense structure, being careful not to fly forward so he could be seen by the defending Dominion Angels and not high enough so he could be seen by the rebel Angels behind him.

  Once free, he could use his wings once again. He flew very low to the structure and then along the ground of the Fourth Heaven as he turned and headed away from the battleground. That should keep them confused for a while! They wouldn't be sure whether he was battling it out as he had said he would. They would wait for some time before sending in more rebel Cherubim. And when they finally did, and found only his spear and nothing else they will most likely believe that he had perished there. Beelzebael may be disappointed that Jarahmael failed to break through the defenses, but would be delighted that he had perished. Nothing like giving someone exactly what they wished for, he chuckled to himself. Jarahmael knew that would give him some time and anonymity when traveling through the Heavens. Only Luciferael himself knew that he should be in the army headed by Beelzebael. Now it was just time to put more and more distance between himself and the rebel army of Angels.

  Looking behind, he did not see any of the rebel Angels following him, neither Suriel nor Beelzebael nor any of the lesser Orders of Angel legions. Feeling his back though, he did want to replace the spear as one could come in handy again. Flying low along the eastern side of the Fourth Heaven, he circled around and approached the tail end of the rebel legions waiting to advance through the Fourth Heaven into the Third Heaven. All of the rebel Angels were facing in that direction and away from him. He smiled as he scanned the area for another spear. He noticed that there were a few spears that had been stacked against one of the clouds as the rebel Angels waited for the bottleneck to be broken. Slipping in silently, he grabbed one and slid it down along his back between his wings where the last one had been hidden.

  Now feeling complete again, it was time to maneuver himself back up into the Fifth Heaven. All of the rebel Angels assigned to follow Beelzebael had already entered the Fourth Heaven, so the way was clear. The rebel army's confidence was extremely high and they felt no reason to leave any guards at the entranceways between the Fifth and Fourth Heavens. This made it easy for Jarahmael to go right through the gateway into the Fifth Heaven once again.

  Chapter 16

  STEALTH

  Jarahmael was free even if he was flying in Heavens already captured by Luciferael and his rebel legions. As he flew, he reviewed the previous day’s events in order to make sense of what had been occurring. It had been quite a day.

  The rebels under Luciferael’s command had begun the war from the Fifth Heaven at the Hall of the Virtues and quickly overr
an any resistance left there. Beelzebael took half of the rebel legions with him and moved to conquer the lower Heavens, while Luciferael and his legions headed up and attacked the Sixth Heaven with the purpose of getting to the Seventh Heaven as soon as possible. At the end of the first day Beelzebael had already conquered the Fourth Heaven and was heading towards the Third Heaven while Luciferael was still fighting his way through the Sixth Heaven.

  Earlier, in order to get weapons out of the Sixth Heaven, Jarahmael enlisted the help of Faumiel of the Cherubim. Then Faumiel had to get the weapons down through the lower Heavens, particularly the Fifth Heaven where Luciferael’s rebel legions had assembled. Jarahmael assisted by making a distraction that allowed Faumiel and his band of loyal Cherubim to pass through. Jarahmael’s distraction was to enter the Fifth Heaven in a grand way and offer his services to Luciferael. Jarahmael acted as though he wanted to join Luciferael and his rebel legions, and was placed in Suriel's legion. Suriel’s legion was assigned as part of Beelzebael's army heading to conquer the lower Heavens. Fortunately, an opportunity finally came where he could escape, and now Jarahmael was back to his original purpose, which was to get back to the Seventh Heaven. He intended to save both the Book of Creation and the Book of Life contained in the Throne Room so Luciferael could not possess them and their power. And most importantly to Jarahmael, he intended to get Lillith out of harm’s way since she was still in his mansion in the Seventh Heaven.

  As Jarahmael slipped back into the Fifth Heaven, he noticed that there had not been any damage in this Heaven. It was clear that any resistance put up by the Order of the Virtues was quickly overrun by the legions led by Beelzebael before any real fighting could have begun. They were certainly caught by surprise, Jarahmael thought to himself.

  He remembered, too, that the Archangel Ariel was held captive in the Hall of the Virtues. Jarahmael flew to the Hall and then secretly slipped along the wall and confirmed that Ariel remained under guard in the Hall of the Virtues. Ariel was not resisting and appeared to be resigned to being under guard for the moment. Trying to free him now would just call attention to himself. If he succeeded in freeing Ariel, then the rebel Angels would know that someone was loose in the Heavens they believed conquered and that would start a search. For the moment, the rebel Angels thought Jarahmael to be captured or worse and he did not want to discourage them from thinking so. He would return for Ariel when, and if, he could. But Jarahmael also made a mental note that there were still only four rebel Cherubim Angels guarding Ariel.

  The harder part was yet to come. Jarahmael would have to get in front of Luciferael's legions to get to the Throne Room before him. Flying up and into the Sixth Heaven, Jarahmael found that he was in again in luck.

  Now on the second day of the rebellion the battle still raged between the loyal Cherubim Angels led by Zachiel and the rebel legions led by Luciferael. The loyal Cherubim were armed in this Heaven as they had access to the remaining weapons used in the destruction of the dinosaurs. Of all the Angels to wage war, these Cherubim were tall and more muscular than any other Order of Angels. Spying from afar, Jarahmael saw Luciferael and part of his Auxilium around him at the rear of his attacking legions. There was tremendous clatter as the sound weapons were being used on both sides and were creating walls of sound impenetrable by either side, at least as long as the trumpets and harps were being used. Occasionally an arrow launched by one of the harps would penetrate the opposing side’s defenses. If an Angel was hit, the arrows would sometimes overwhelm the light waves within the Angel and cause its body to explode in a burst of light. A ghostly image of the shape of the Angel would then rise up and out of the Heaven. Not sure where that part of the Angel goes, Jarahmael thought. did it return as part of the Almighty or go somewhere else? Another question he would have for the Almighty. Other Angels would be stunned and helpless for a while when struck full on by the sound weapons.

  It was a stalemate, with Zachiel’s forces thwarting Luciferael’s rebel Angels from advancing, and the rebel Angels preventing Zachiel’s Cherubim from pushing Luciferael’s legions back into the Fifth Heaven.

  As Jarahmael flew past, he noticed the fighting seemed to be centered by the Cathedral of the Cherubim. Luciferael must be trying to get his hands on all the remaining weapons. It was a big mistake when Luciferael had not made arrangements to take all of the weapons before the rebellion began. If he had them all, the loyal Angels would be defenseless and overrun easily. Knowing Luciferael, his pride would not allow him to think that anyone would be able to effectively resist him.

  Jarahmael wondered if Zachiel succeeded in loading all the weapons and were included in the cache sent down with Faumiel to the lower Heavens. Those weapons would be critical in pushing Luciferael's and Beelzebael's' armies back and out of the Heavens. Most importantly, he hoped the weapons had made it down to the Earth and that his colleagues were preparing themselves for Beelzebael's attack.

  Jarahmael saw that the clouds in the Sixth Heaven were dark with a purple hue, almost black, similar to what storm clouds look like in the midst of a ferocious thunderstorm cell. The increased darkness helped him conceal himself as he flew from one cloud to another and rose up through the Sixth Heaven. He stopped on a particularly dark cloud that hid him well just before the entrance into the Seventh Heaven.

  Thinking of weapons, he felt the Crystal Prism within his tunic. The Almighty had mentioned something about these crystals when he met alone with Him and Lillith. The Almighty was careful about speaking about them, so that no one else, including Lillith, would know about them and their powers. The Almighty told him that when the time came, fourteen crystals would appear, all with different powers. Each would have an inscription that only Jarahmael could read and understand; even if others could read the inscription, the messages would only make sense to Jarahmael.

  Jarahmael took the Crystal Prism out and looked at it. It was beautifully clear, so clear that it resembled water, ebbing and flowing even though it was one of the hardest crystals in the Universe. He double checked the inscription that appeared along its side, and it still said “Carcer Pro Cohibeo Res Lux Lucis.” A prism for confining Beings of Light. Knowing that the Almighty relied upon spoken words to create and transform the Universe, he surmised that in order to make the prism work all he needed to do was to say the inscription aloud. He was not sure which way though to point the prism to make it work, or if he had to point it at all in order to capture an Angel.

  As he prepared to fly up on the last leg to the entrance to the Seventh Heaven, he heard a loud blare of the trumpet, magnified many times. Looking down, he saw Luciferael had gathered a number of the Potentate Angels around him. They were connected to Luciferael by flashes of light from their orb-like bodies. When he blew the trumpet it magnified the power of the sound waves at least a hundred fold. Where the trumpet sounds had failed to push back the Cherubim before, now the sound was amplified by the Potentate Angels. Their added energy made the sound much stronger and blasted the defending Cherubim back and away from their Cathedral.

  Jarahmael knew that the loyal Cherubim's defenses may not hold out much longer. He must get into the Seventh Heaven before Luciferael or his Angels and seize the Books stored in the Almighty's Throne Room. As Jarahmael flew quietly into the entrance, his heart raced when he saw a small squad of rebel Angels off to his left heading to the entrance, too. They were heavily armed with swords, spears and maces. They had to be part of Luciferael's legions, he thought to himself, as he hadn't seen maces in the hands of any other Angel before. Those maces must have been stored or made somewhere in the Cathedral.

  Jarahmael calculated quickly and knew that he could not out race this squad of Cherubim Angels, seize the Books, and then get clear of the Throne Room. Perhaps he could throw them off their mission, but first he needed to ascertain the purpose of their mission. Were they Angels that had moved ahead of Luciferael's lines? Scouts for the rebel Angels’ army? Or the beginning of the planned invasion force?


  Jarahmael pulled his tunic up over his hair and used extra folds of the tunic to cover his colored wing tips, so they would not know who he was as he approached them. He was gambling that Beelzebael and Suriel hadn't seen through his ruse at the Fourth Heaven's battle and still believed him to be captured or destroyed, so no one was searching for him. Jarahmael did not want to lose that advantage if he didn't have to.

  Jarahmael walked forward as they landed in the entrance way. He noticed all ten of them were Cherubim.

  “Greetings Cherubim!” Jarahmael said as though he was expecting them.

  The lead Cherubim walked forward and stopped too close to be polite.

  “What are you doing here?” barked the lead Cherubim. “Who are you?”

  Ten would be difficult to handle, and all were armed. He did not allow himself to rise to his full stature, for Archangels were some of the tallest of the Angels who lived in the Heavens. Standing at his full height would have revealed that Jarahmael was an Archangel, and he did not want to reveal that as of yet.

  “I am keeping watch on the entranceway to the Seventh Heaven, sir,” Jarahmael responded.

  “And for whom, or against whom, are you watching?” demanded the Cherubim leader.

  The remaining Cherubim in the squad moved up, and placed their hands on their swords, ready to unsheath them as they carefully watched Jarahmael in his disguise.

  Jarahmael looked straight into the lead Cherubim's eyes, trying to read his intent. For the moment the rebel Cherubim’s mind was not clear to him. Then he realized that he was talking to Paimon, one of the rebel Cherubim Angels that he had seen in the past with Sammuael and Mammonael in the Throne Room during the morning ceremony. Stepping back, Jarahmael bought some distance between them before he answered.